Cherokee crushes Cherry Hill East's playoff hopes

It was a game three weeks in the making for Cherry Hill East. After a tough loss against West Jersey American foe Washington Township on October 20th, the Cougars shifted their focus to their last chance to make the playoffs—a must-win game at Cherokee for which they would have two weeks to prepare for after a bye. Then came Sandy, pushing the game back four days, followed by another two-day delay due to a nor’easter.

So when game day finally arrived, everything seemed set for a clash of two teams, both desperate to keep their playoff hopes alive. There was only one problem. All of the hype and preparation of the previous three weeks did not translate onto the field for East and on the first play from scrimmage, Cherokee sophomore Marc Woodard broke through a hole in the Cougar defense and took the ball 63 yards for a touchdown. Just two drives later, East’s missed tackles allowed Cherokee’s Robert Agnoni to return a punt 54 yards for another touchdown, widening the gap.

From there, the game would get out of control for East, down 35-6 at halftime. While East was able to hold Cherokee in the second half, their deficit was too big and the game would end 42-13.

“We felt like we were ready to go out on defense, and we elected to defer the opening kickoff, then we gave up the punt return, so it was big plays.” said East head coach Tom Coen.

While Coen would not blame the loss and the team’s sloppy first half play on the 20-day layoff, he certainly felt it made a difference.

“It’s just so difficult to replicate that game speed,” he said, “after a while everyone gets tired of hitting [their teammates].”

The lone bright spot for East came from senior running back Daishi Goto, who ran for 219 yards and the team’s two touchdowns on 29 carries. The Cougar passing game was almost non-existent, as sophomore quarterback Brandon Stern was just 2-13 with ten yards, including four passes that were deflected at the line.

While the playoffs will not be in the cards for East this year, they will still have two more opportunities for big games, one with their state consolation game next week and the last coming in the always-important Cherry Hill East versus Cherry Hill West game on the night before Thanksgiving.